


SHIELD Agents are Trained to Keep Secrets

by orderlychaos



Series: Secret Lives of SHIELD Agents [6]
Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Secret Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 01:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orderlychaos/pseuds/orderlychaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Also, Pepper would probably kill him because somehow Tony found himself back in a bar less than twenty-four hours since he’d last dragged Thor out of one.  In his defense, it was pretty hard to investigate someone without being in their presence and when Clint had decided to go out for a beer, Tony had immediately agreed to go with him.  No matter what Bruce said, there was something going on between Clint and Agent Coulson and Tony was determined to get to the bottom of it, even if he had to resort to the subtle art of alcohol-influenced interrogation.</p>
<p>Tony is determined to find out the truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	SHIELD Agents are Trained to Keep Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Feelschat who helped me work out a title for this one!! You guys are always awesome :D

 

Tony Stark let his eyes scan the bar and noticed the many approving glances being sent in his direction.  Tony couldn’t blame them because even though he was still dressed in the jeans from the night before and a slightly rumbled black t-shirt under his leather jacket, he was still an awesome sight.  Even if Clint Barton hadn’t been with him, he was still Tony Stark and people always looked.

His sunglasses however weren’t exactly protecting his eyes from the neon lights someone had unhelpfully strewn all over the place and Tony had to squint his eyes a little against the pain they were causing in his head.  Those last couple of drinks he’d had last night were making him pay.  Or had it been that morning?  Tony wasn’t sure.  All he knew for certainty was that he was never letting Thor trick him into a drinking competition again.

Also, Pepper would probably kill him because somehow Tony found himself back in a bar less than twenty-four hours since he’d last dragged Thor out of one.  In his defense, it was pretty hard to investigate someone without being in their presence and when Clint had decided to go out for a beer, Tony had immediately agreed to go with him.  No matter what Bruce said, there was something going on between Clint and Agent Coulson and Tony was determined to get to the bottom of it, even if he had to resort to the subtle art of alcohol-influenced interrogation.

As Tony watched, Clint took a deep breath as he stared down the length of his pool cue and lined up his shot.  Tony frowned as he watched, because seriously, playing pool with the man known as Hawkeye was as stupid as voluntarily playing darts with him and if Tony hadn’t had an investigation to conduct, he never would have agreed to it.  Tony wandered closer, his hand automatically reaching for the cold beer Clint had left on the edge of the pool table.

“Don’t even think about it, Stark,” Clint said without even looking up.

Tony chuckled and shrugged, not really surprised the other man had spotted him trying to steal his beer.  “You know, you’re not being very fun tonight, Barton,” he said as Clint made his shot and the red ball disappeared into the corner pocket.  “Not to mention you haven’t even _glanced_ at the blonde at the bar who’s been eyeing you like a large lollipop.”

Clint sighed, even as he sank another ball.  “I’m not interested in the bleach blonde at the bar, Stark,” he said.

Leaning against his pool cue in what he hoped was a casual manner, Tony cocked his head to the side and gave him a mischievous smirk.  “Why not?” he asked.  “Not your type?  Is it because you don’t actually prefer the groupies in the skirts?”

Clint said nothing, but he the ball he hit on his next shot didn’t quite make it to the corner pocket.  Inwardly, Tony grinned because if that wasn’t a sign that his question had unsettled the infamous Hawkeye, he didn’t know what was.  “You know, if you don’t actually prefer chicks, I won’t care,” he continued.  “It would be a little hypocritical for me to be down on someone for the way they like to party.”

Tony took his own shot, feeling Clint’s gaze on his back the whole time.  He missed, mainly because he could feel Clint’s eyes boring a spot between his shoulder-blades like two laser beams.  Turning, Tony spotted the glare Clint was sending him.  “What?” he asked, feigning innocence; no matter how bad Pepper told him he was at it, Tony refused to believe it.

Clint sighed and shut his eyes for a moment.  “Stark, are you asking if I’m gay?”

“No, actually,” Tony countered.  “I’m asking you why you’re not trying to pick up the blonde at the bar.  Being gay would be an answer.  So would be being exhausted after filling out the million and one forms Agent made us fill out.”  Tony shrugged.  “Like I said, I’m not judging.”

Muttering something under his breath, Clint rolled his eyes.

“Are you still pissed off about our last mission?” Tony tried a different tactic.  “It’s not your fault, you know.  You couldn’t have known about the secret tunnels.”

Having HYDRA soldiers seemingly disappearing and reappearing had definitely not been the highlight of that mission.  Secret tunnels should not exist outside of Hollywood.

“Also, I did not know Agent could go that long without sleep,” Tony added, half trying to get another reaction out of Clint and half genuinely curious.  “And I practically use caffeine as a substitute for sleep most days of the week.” __

Finally, Clint started looking more like his usual self, which Tony was going to count as a win, even though he hadn’t managed to get to the truth about his relationship (or lack of) with Agent Coulson yet.  Clint gave him an enigmatic shrug as he sauntered up to the table to take his turn.  Pausing as he lined up his shot, Clint flicked his dancing blue eyes up to stare at Tony.  “Don’t you listen to rumours, Stark?” he asked, irritating Tony as he sunk his shot without even _looking_.

“Agent Coulson doesn’t need sleep.  Agent Coulson scoffs at the need for sleep.  He can go without sleep for weeks on end.  The only drawback to that is that he drinks all your coffee and then gets grumpy when you don’t bring him more and stabs you with a pencil,” Clint continued, smirking.  “Agent Coulson is superhuman, or at the very least a robot from the future Fury tricked into working for him.”

“The junior agents really say that?” Tony asked, impressed despite himself.

Clint nodded, still smirking broadly.  “You do have to give them points for creativity.”

Tony frowned at the table, realizing that while they’d been talking, Clint had managed to sink almost all of his balls and Tony was about to lose another twenty bucks.  He tried to remind himself it was an acceptable loss in the search for the truth about him and Agent Coulson.

“I do want to point out that I warned Coulson about the secret tunnel theory,” Clint said.

“You did?” Tony replied.  Then he rolled his eyes.  “What am I saying?  Of _course_ you did.  Although, why your insane conspiracy theories keep getting proved true, I’ll never know,” he muttered, glaring at Clint as Clint sunk the eight ball and won.  Clint just grinned and took the twenty Tony held out to him with a flourish.

“You know, if we’re talking conspiracies,” Tony said.  “I want to know what the real deal is with Agent.”

Clint sighed again.  “Stark, I’m not helping you think up more rumours about Coulson.”

Shrugging, Tony moved to set up the pool table for another game.  “Actually, I was thinking more about whether Coulson is dating anyone at the moment.  I heard he was seeing a cellist at some point, but has there been anyone since?”

Clint coughed on his swig of beer and blinked at him.  “What?”

Tony shrugged.  “Well, when you think about it, Agent isn’t a bad looking guy and he certainly dresses well.  If you excuse the whole coffee thing, he’s even polite,” he said and Clint stared at him as if he suddenly had two heads or something.  “Plus, even I can tell that under those suits he’s hiding more than a few muscles.”

Shaking his head rather bemusedly, Tony noticed Clint’s fingers came up to run over the chain he’d suddenly started wearing around his neck.  Tony narrowed his eyes, because all of his instincts were telling him that it was important, even if he hadn’t worked out the logic behind that yet.  “Stark,” Clint finally said, taking another drink of his beer and staring at him with an unreadable expression.  “Do I have to call JARVIS?  Have you finally snapped and gone all-the-way crazy?”

Tony rolled his eyes, but he did notice the way Clint was far less relaxed than he had been, no matter how hard he was trying to cover it.  There was _definitely_ something going on between him and Coulson.  Now all Tony had to do was prove it.  Then Bruce would be sorry for telling him to leave it alone.

Just as Clint was about to break, he paused and winced.  Tony felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket at the exact same moment.  “So much for down-time, huh?” Tony muttered, placing his pool cue down on the table.

Clint shrugged as Tony dug out his phone; they both knew what the message was going to say.  Sure enough, all the text said was ‘assemble’.  Tony was beginning to regret teaching Steve how to text everyone.  “There had better not be any damn secret tunnels this time,” he grumbled.

Clint just laughed.


End file.
